Three Golden Eagles honored by College Sports Madness

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — With the official start of practice
just more than a week away, the preseason accolades have begun
coming in for Tennessee Tech.

Three Golden Eagles were named preseason All-Ohio Valley
Conference selections by College Sports Madness on Tuesday
and senior guard Kevin Murphy was the publication’s pick for
Player of the Year in the conference.

Murphy was also named first-team All-OVC and was a second team
All-Mid Major selection. The All-Mid Major teams recognize 20
players, split between four teams who represent the best the
mid-major conferences have to offer.

Additionally, senior point guard Zac Swansey was named second
team All-OVC and junior guard Jud Dillard was fourth-team
All-OVC.

Murphy was an All-OVC First Team selection by the conference a
season ago while he, Swansey and Dillard were all named to the
league’s All-Tournament team.

Murphy led the team in scoring in 2010-11 and ranked third in
the OVC, averaging 17 points per game. He averaged 24.3 points per
contest over Tech’s three-game run to the OVC championship
contest and became the 32nd member of the school’s
1,000 point club.

Swansey averaged 9.7 points per game in 2010-11, when he hit
five game-winning shots. He led the OVC in assists, averaging 6.4
per game and reaching double-figure assists in six different
outings. He also led the OVC in steals (2.1 per game) and
assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8) and hit 36 percent of his shots from
behind the three-point arc.

Dillard eased into a starting role during the 2010-11 season and
became increasingly key down the stretch as he notched six
double-doubles and averaged 11 points per game. He averaged a
double-double over three games in the OVC Tournament, scoring 13.3
points and pulling down 11.3 rebounds.

College Sports Madness named Austin Peay’s Dave
Loos preseason OVC Coach of the Year while calling Southeast
Missouri’s Nino Johnson the league’s Freshman of the
Year.

The Golden Eagles officially open practice Oct. 15. They begin
the 2011-12 season at Miami on Friday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. CST before
returning home to play at the Eblen Center for the first time
against Reinhardt at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

To order season tickets, call (931) 372-3940 or order online at
TTUSports.com

The official all-OVC selections from the conference will be
announced on Media Day, Oct. 25.

To see the complete list of College Sports Madness OVC honorees,
click here.